Sometimes there are just not enough players for each club to be linked to a different star. In the past week United have supposedly been in a battle for Domenico Berardi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pablo Dybala, Antoine Griezmann and Eden Hazard.

Now Louis van Gaal is ready to fight Arsenal for the signature of Barcelona youngster Sergi Samper and, according to the Star, a scout watched the starlet on behalf of the Dutchman last night.

Sadly there is no indication of where this information comes from, so perhaps don’t expect too heated a battle for the Spaniard.

Hakan Calhanoglu to Manchester United: United ‘readying €40m bid’ for Bayer Leverkusen midfielder in January (The Independent)

Every now and again there’s a bit more to a careless whisper than meets the eye. While United may have been linked with what feels like everybody under the sun, the Independent look to have found somebody they are generally interested in.

Reliably, German newspaper Bild have reported the Red Devils have been scouting the Turkey international for months. And what’s more, Bayer Leverkusen’s chief executive Michael Schade has admitted the midfielder could leave the club.